Apparatus and method for two-way signaling with traffic controllers over a wireless link

ABSTRACT

Several implementations of an access point, an application server, and instances of an application operating upon a cell phone are disclosed. These implementations support the cell phone and its application traveling on a vehicle, which wirelessly communicates through a wireless router, such as a Bluetooth router with an access point situated in a cabinet to direct a traffic controller driving a traffic light. The wireless router responds to a cell phone initiated by the app, by reporting the location and speed of the vehicle, often further including the vehicle type, such as a bicycle or heavy truck. The traffic controller may lengthen a green light in response to a heavy truck, to reduce wear on roadways. The access point may respond to a bicycle, by confirming its presence to the bicycle driver as well as adjust the traffic controller.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document discloses application and the implementation of a systemto allow remote signaling from bicyclists, truck drivers, or othervehicle drivers into a traffic controller through an access point (AP)communicating wirelessly with the user's cell phone. Remote signalingmeans that the traffic controller accepts a signal from a remote deviceoutside its normal set of locally-wired (or wireless) pedestrian buttonsand vehicle detectors for the purpose of knowing the presence orvehicle. The remote signal may come over a local area wireless networksuch as Bluetooth, or over a wide area wireless network such as cellulardata. The signal may originate from a wireless device, a control system,a vehicle or any other entity not under the direct control of the citytraffic department. The traffic controller may use this signal to effectthe operation of the signals, including but not limited to extendinggreen time for an approach, starting green time early on an approach orincreasing yellow time or red times to ensure an intersection is clearbefore turning on a green light.

BACKGROUND

Traffic control systems are used to regulate the speed of vehicles atcritical points on the road to improve traffic performance is to preventcollisions. The biggest application of traffic control is atintersections where vehicles may naturally crash into each other withoutsome form of regulation. Modern traffic control at intersections isimplemented by various means from the simplest, stop signs, to fixedtimed traffic lights (i.e. no traffic sensors), to responsive trafficsignal lights, where sensors are used to detect the presence of vehiclesat the stop bar or at the mid-block locally controlling the operation ofeach signal, to the most complex adaptive control systems that use thedensity of traffic and traffic volumes to optimize the operation of eachintersection dynamically for an entire city. In all cases other thanstop signs and fixed signals vehicle detection is required.

When sensors are used for vehicle detection, the output of the sensor istypically a single bit, on or off, over time, which represents thepresence of a vehicle at a specific place and a specific time.Typically, the output of each sensor is wired into a traffic controllerso the controller knows that is vehicle is at the stop bar or may soonbe at the stop bar so that the controller can expend a green cycle forthe vehicle or start a green cycle earlier than normal.

SUMMARY

There are several technical problems, which the inventors have becomeaware of:

-   -   First, the placement of a vehicle detection sensor is fixed. The        sensor usually cannot be moved without incurring costs to add        new sensors or repositioning and/or realigning the sensor.    -   Second, certain vehicles, for example bicycles, can be very        difficult to detect.    -   Third, a bicycle rider does not know whether they have been        detected. The bicycle rider will often wait only so long at the        intersection, before going through a red light, which often        leads to deadly results.    -   Fourth, differentiating between vehicle types is very difficult        with current technologies. For example, while it is advantageous        for municipalities to extend green signal for large trucks at        traffic controllers, so that they do not damage the pavement        when they put on their brakes. Such a policy could extend        pavement lifetime by years on intersections near ports or        distribution centers. However, these policies cannot be        implemented, because of the difficulty distinguishing heavy        vehicles from others.

The system disclosed here, called “Give Me Green” by Sensys networks,the assignee, improves on the state of the art by:

-   -   Allowing detection zones to be defined as geo-fences using GPS        technology. These fences can be reconfigured and reinterpreted        without any physical changes to detection equipment mounted on        or near the roadway and they can be adapted based on vehicle        type or other real-time criteria. Thus, for example, the advance        detection indication for a truck can be different than for a        bicycle and different again for a standard car.    -   The state of the detection, i.e. whether a user was actually        detected, is sent not only to the traffic controller but it is        sent back to the user providing positive feedback that the        traffic control system has seen (or not seen) the user. This        should increase the overall reliability and safety of        intersections.    -   Tagging detection by both user account and vehicle type so that        special actions can be taken based on both a user permissions        and vehicle type. This solves the issue of extending green for        heavy trucks increasing pavement lifetime.    -   Additionally, the access point may further encode the message        sent to the cell phone so that the application operating in the        cell phone can indicate whether the message is authentically        from the access point, and is not being fraudulently sent by a        nefarious party. Such fraudulently sent messages could be        applied across a city to trigger accidents affecting many        bicyclists. These attacks could further be timed to have maximum        affect upon the health of the city, as well as disrupt emergency        services.

In addition to solving these existing issues, Give Me Green allows forprogress in the adoption of autonomous vehicles, which will need to knowthe current state of the intersection (i.e. which color the trafficlight is currently indicating). Give Me Green broadcasts this stateinformation in real time to enhance any visual detection currently usedby autonomous vehicles.

Signaling may also be bi-directional allowing the remote device toreceive the state of the traffic signal (the current red/yellow/green ofeach approach) and/or the status of the detectors at the intersection assignaled from the AP. This signaling informs the bicyclist that thetraffic controller has seen him and will react accordingly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show examples of an application server communicatingwith a traffic authority server, as well as cabinets, access points,traffic controllers, Bluetooth Routers, traffic lights, vehicles,applications on cell phones, possibly drivers, lanes and roadways.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram including a traffic authorityserver (TAS) 1000 communicating with an application server (AS) 2000.The TAS 1000 communicates with a first cabinet 100-1 and with a secondcabinet 100-2. In many situations, these cabinets comply with a trafficcontrol standard, such as some version of NEMA, which may vary from onecountry to another. The first cabinet 100-1 may include an access point(AP) 1100-1, a first traffic controller (TC), and a first BluetoothRouter (BR) 1300-1. The second cabinet 100-2 may include a secondtraffic controller (TC) 1200-2 and a Bluetooth Router (BR) 1300-2. Thefirst traffic controller 1200-1 may communicate with a first trafficlight (TL 1) 3300-1 situated to control traffic movement by vehicles ina first lane 3100. The second traffic controller may communicate with asecond traffic light (TL 2) 3300-2 situated to control traffic in asecond lane 3200. For simplicity, the first lane 3100 is shown withtraffic movement going from right to left in the drawing. The secondlane 3200 is shown with traffic movement in the opposite direction, fromleft to right. Both are shown as part of a single roadway 3000.

The first Bluetooth Router BR 1 1300-1 is shown wirelessly communicatingwith a first cell phone 400-1 in a first vehicle 200-1. The first cellphone 400-1 includes a first instance of an application 500-1, which isat least partly configured to direct the communication between the cellphone 400-1 with the BR 1 1300-1.

The BR 1 1300-1 is also shown wireless communicating the a second cellphone 400-2. The second cell phone 400-2 includes a second instance ofthe application 500-2, which is at least partly configured to direct thecommunication between the cell phone 400-2 with the BR 1 1300-1.

The first Bluetooth Router BR 2 1300-2 is shown wirelessly communicatingwith a cell phone 400-3 in a vehicle 200-3. The cell phone 400-3includes an instance of an application 500-3, which is at least partI3configured to direct the communication between the cell phone 400-3 withthe BR 2 1300-2.

The first Bluetooth Router BR 2 1300-2 is shown wirelessly communicatingwith a cell phone 400-4 in a vehicle 200-4. The cell phone 400-4includes an instance of an application 500-4, which is at least partI4configured to direct the communication between the cell phone 400-4 withthe BR 2 1300-2.

The first Bluetooth Router BR 2 1300-2 is shown wirelessly communicatingwith a cell phone 400-5 in a vehicle 200-5. The cell phone 400-5includes an instance of an application 500-5, which is at least partI5configured to direct the communication between the cell phone 400-5 withthe BR 2 1300-2.

In this drawing vehicle 200-1, vehicle 200-3, vehicle 200-5 aretraveling toward the first traffic light 3300-1. Vehicle 200-2 andvehicle 200-4 are traveling toward TL 3200-2.

The access point 1100-1 may be configured to receive messages from theBR-1 and through the TAS 1000 with the second access point 1100-2 totransfer messages regarding the location and speed of the vehicles. Thesecond access point 1100-2 may be configured to receive messages fromthe BR-2 and through the TAS 1000 with the first access point 1100-1 totransfer messages regarding the location and speed of the vehicles.

By way of example, referring to FIG. 1, the first AP 1100-1 may send amessage regarding the location and speed of vehicle 200-2 to the secondAP 1100-2 to aid in the control of the second Traffic Light 3300-2.Similarly, the second access point 1100-2 may send one or more messagesregarding the location and speed of the third vehicle 200-3 and/or thefifth vehicle 200-5 to the first access point 1100-1 to aid in controlof the first traffic light 3300-1.

FIG. 2 shows the application server 2000 communicating with each of thecell phones of FIG. 1, in particular cell phone 400-1, 400-2, 400-3,400-4, and 400-5. These communications do not necessarily happen at thesame time, although they may. These communications may serve toinitialize an installed package for the application 500, to configureeach instance specifically, thereby creating app 500-1, 500-2, 500-3,500-4, and 500-5. The installed packages may be received from anauthorized and/or authenticated download server, possibly affiliatedwith the cell phone manufacturer in a certain country, such as theUnited States or China. The applications may also receive updates usedby at least some of the installed apps 500-1 to 500-5. The updates mayset a security seed which the installed and configured apps used todetermine if the signals from the access points 1100-1 and 1100-2 areauthentic. The security seed may or may not differ for each of thedrivers 300-1 to 300-5.

Referring to FIG. 1, consider a first implementation of this technologyto support accurate vehicle detection, without using expensive and oftenfixed sensor networks, stop bars and/or advanced detection sensors. Insome situations, the vehicles 200-1 to 200-5 may ‘own’ the cell phones400-1 to 400-3, allowing each vehicle to use this implementation toreport their location and speed to the access points 1100-1 and 1100-2using an existing radio technology, for example, the Bluetooth Routers1300-1 and 1300-2. By way of example, some or all of the vehicles 400-1to 400-5 may be autonomously driven vehicles. In other situations,drivers of one or more of the vehicles may own and operate theassociated cell phone. For example, vehicle 400-1 may have a humandriver 300-1 who owns and operates the cell phone 400-1. In anothersituation, the vehicle 200-1 may be rented to a driver 300-2, and thecell phone 400-2 may be owned by the rental company.

Consider a second implementation of this technology for drivers 300-1 to300-5 operating vehicles 200-1 to 200-5. These vehicles are bicycles.The drivers are often referred to as bicyclists. This situation has beendifficult for many sensors to detect. Using the created app 500-1 to500-5, the traffic controllers 1200-1 and 1200-2 can accuratelydetermine the location and speed of the vehicles 200-1 to 200-5. Theaccess points 1100-1 and 1100-2 can use the Bluetooth Routers 1300-1 and1300-2 to send messages to the cell phones 400-1 to 400-5, informing therespective applications 500-1 to 500-5 that they are being detected andaccounted for by the traffic controllers 1200-1 and 1200-2. This givesthe drivers 300-1 to 300-5 the assurance that the traffic lights 3300-1and 3300-2 are correct. This in turn reduces the tendency for somedrivers to become impatient, and attempt to cross against the trafficsignal for their lane, which increases the probability of trafficaccidents and injuries.

This second implementation may further support the application server2000 on a possibly regular basis sending security updates as in FIG. 2.These security updates can be used by the apps 500-1 to 500-5 tocalculate an authenticity assessment, to detect a possible cyber-attack,which could purposely cause an increase in bicycle related injuries.

Consider a third implementation to implement a policy to extend greenfor large trucks, for example, vehicle 200-4, so that they do not damagethe roadway 3000 pavement when their brakes are applied. Such a policycould extend pavement lifetime by years on intersections near ports ordistribution centers. In such implementations, the municipalitiesbenefit from reduced wear and tear on the roadways 3000. The truckcompanies benefit from reduced fuel costs and from the ability to trackthe location of these large vehicles 200. The driver 300-4 benefits bygetting more done in their shift, because they will have had to stopless often for traffic lights, such as traffic light 3300-2. Also, thetrucker's app 500-4 may recognize the work schedule of the driver 300-4and turn off notifying the Bluetooth Routers 1300-1 and 1300-2 of thevehicle 200-4 as a truck, so that the driver may walk near theintersection and not be mistaken as a heavy vehicle.

In other situations, the implementation may support a combination of anyor all of the above discussed implementations.

The traffic authority server 100 may implement a database configured asa graph of intersections, where each intersection is represented as amap. Each of these maps includes a Global Position System (GPS) locationfor each approach to the intersection. The approach may be furtherrepresented by at least one of the following: a location of a throughstop bar, a location of a left turn stop bar, a location of one or morethrough lanes, a location of one or more left turn lanes.

One or more of the maps may further include location of one or moretripwires for advance detection. The tripwires may be based uponcrossing a position or an estimated time to the position, and may varyfor the vehicle type associated with either the driver 300 or thevehicle 200.

One or more of the maps may include an identifier for an access point1100-1 and/or for the associated Bluetooth receiver 1300-1. In someimplementations, each access point 1100-1 and 1100-2, and possibly eachBluetooth Receiver 1300-1 and 1300-2 may be uniquely represented bythese identifiers. These identifiers may be used in the messages toconfirm the traffic controllers involved with the traffic flow in anarea.

The traffic authority server may further issue certificates to validatethe access point maps and keys.

The drivers may be required to register (i.e. get an account) with theAS to receive map information, updates, and security keys. Each user mayhave various vehicle types associated with their account.

Communications between the Access Points 1100-1, the TAS 1000 and theapplication server 2000 may not be reliable, because thesecommunications often occur over public cellular data links. Experiencehas shown that such links routinely add delays of 10 seconds to oneminute and occasionally go down for hours and sometimes days at a time.These delays and outages over the wide area communications network mustbe considered in the design and not assumed to be available all thetime.

Connection to the centralized location is only required for map updatesand key updates. Map updates occur very infrequently but key updates arerequired on a periodic basis. It is assumed here that communicationsshould not go down for more than one day, so update times for keys areset to one day. However, if communications go out for a longer time thenthe current keys can be used indefinitely with a small decrease insystem security. Once the data link to an access point 1100-1 or 1100-2is restored, the keys can be updated and distributed to the Apps 500-1to 500-5. The Access Point 1100 can be programmed to accept older keyswhen it sees that there is no communication with the Application Server2000.

In one embodiment the local communications medium between the App 500and the access point 1100 is Bluetooth, although in the future 5G localcommunications is also feasible. There are three requirements for thislocal communications link:

-   -   It is implemented on cell phones,    -   Transmission range is sufficient to cover the intersection and        advance detection approaches; and    -   Communications can be managed locally (that is, communications        can be achieved without requiring high reliability links between        the access point and any other equipment). The local        communications shall be able to operate autonomously at the        intersection. Some 5G solutions will offer this level of        reliability.

A broadcast message from the access point 1100 to an app 500 may includethe following: An identification of the access point 1100 to allow theapp 500 to filter broadcast messages from other access points.Intersection state and detection status for all approaches at theintersection. And a Message Integrity Check to validate the content,timing and origin of the messages.

The action messages from the App 500 to the access point, such as1100-1, may include the following: An identification of the access pointdestination for the message. An identification of the user of the App,which is often a 32 bit value. An identification of the type of thevehicle 200, which is often a 32 bit value. An indication of the type ofvehicle detection (i.e. which stop bar/trip wire was detected). AMessage Integrity Code (MIC) which may provide error correction and/ordetection, indicate encryption flags. The message may also include otherinformation about the position of the cell phone 400.

- - -

In many implementations, before a user can use the system they mustfirst download the App and register the App with the AS. Registrationrequires creating an account specific to that user on the AS. Thisoperation is performed over a standard data link, either cellular orwifi or other depending on the capabilities of the cell phone.

When the user wishes to operate the App they press a button on the AppGUI to start. Pressing start initiates the download of the appropriatemaps and keys from the AS to the App. Normally maps up to somepredefined radius around the current user are downloaded by default.This reduces the time to download and prevents the clutter of unusedmaps on the cell phone. Typical radius is 100 miles. As the vehiclesmoves the maps can be updated if the user has enabled that feature andthere is sufficient cellular data or wifi coverage. Keys for each mapsare also downloaded by the App.

After the App has downloaded the appropriate maps and keys it is readyfor operation. No further data link is required for operation.

The App uses GPS on the phone to determine the location of the phone andthen looks up the GPS location in its maps to determine if the phone isin an approach. This function may be improved using beacons capable oflocalizing the phone.

Once the App determines it is on an approach it listens on the Bluetoothadvertising channels filtering on the AP_ID specified in the mapdatabase for the approach. The Bluetooth radio is configured tocontinuously broadcast the state of each approach on the intersectionand the status of all the detection at the intersection. The App thenlooks at the map to determine the appropriate state and detectioninformation relevant to the user.

When the App cross a trip wire specified in the map, it monitors thecorresponding trip wire bit in the Bluetooth status and if set indicatesto the user they have been detected. If the bit is not set then the Appsends an action message to the AP via the Bluetooth radio. When the APreceives the Bluetooth message it sets a detection bit to the trafficcontroller. The action message tells the AP that the phone has cross thetrip wire and gives a indication of how far the phone is from the tripwire. The transmission of action messages continues until either thephone leaves the approach or the status bit for the trip wire changesfrom not detected to detected.

A similar process occurs when the phone enters the stop bar region, butin that case the phone continues to transmit, at a rate of 2 Hz, that itis present in the stop bar region. When the phone leaves the region thetransmissions shall stop.

While most of the information communicated by the system over Bluetoothis public (e.g. signal state and configuration), and operation isintended to be open to all bicyclists, care still should be taken toallow for:

-   -   A kill switch to disable inputs to the controller    -   Communications over Bluetooth cannot forward through any traffic        operations network (routing rules, port restrictions, ip        restrictions etc.)    -   A method to authenticate that the state and status information        from the AP is not being spoofed by a fake AP.    -   A method to allow a traffic authority to control access by user        and vehicle type on a granularity of one day to one week.    -   A method to validate data sent from the AS to the user is        approved by the transit authority.

The method to authenticate may be accomplished by sending a public-keysignature with each state and status message. The signature is computedusing the data in the message in combination with the current time. Amethod such as Network Time Protocol (NTP) may be used to synchronizeservers and apps to the required accuracy, which can be from 1 second to10 seconds. For one embodiment, a Pairing Based Cryptography (PBC)library may be used for public key encryption. The public/private keysare regenerated periodically (for example every day) and downloaded tothe App via the data link.

The method to allow the traffic authority to control access may beaccomplished by a private shared key used to generate a MessageIntegrity Check (MIC) over the action message. The MIC also includes atimestamp to prevent replay attacks. The key for the MIC is generatedusing a secret key generated in the AP and transmitted security to theAS. The AS then generates a private key for each user/vehicle type andsends that key to the App via the data link. They key must be refreshedperiodically, for example once a day. Since the AP has the originalsecret key and gets the user id and vehicle type in the action message,it can generate the same private key as the AS.

The method to validate data may be accomplished via a certificategenerated by each TAS and sent to App via an internet connection (notshown). The certificate can then be used by the App to validate theorigin of map data sent by the AS.

One or more implementations may require and/or use one or more of thefollowing technologies, which may be specific to an area, municipality,user, nation and/or region:

-   -   Speech recognition for “left” and “straight” and “right” etc.        (optional—assumes traight)    -   Exact sound of beep to bicyclist    -   GPS trip wires on app    -   Automatic determination of approach and distance on app    -   Updating of intersection database (ala Pokemon Go) over cell        data and/or Bluetooth.    -   SSID access and Bluetooth routing    -   Estimate time to red/green for playback to bicyclist    -   User/password server infrastructure

A method to regulate access to an access point 1100 may include thefollowing: App gets ticket(s) from Application Servers that givespermission for fixed period of time (on order of hours) to a wide rangeof intersections. Other restrictions may apply to reduce abuse.

A processor at an intersection may validate the ticket with having tocommunicate with the application server and/or a specialized applicationauthentication server, or any other server in real time.

The TAS may generate a big random number, referred to as K. The TAS maysend K to the access point and to the Application Server. TheApplication Server may send the K to the Apps as part of a ticket, whichalso contain an identification of the Access Point. The App incommunicating to the Access Point may send a representation of the K.The Access Point may compare the representation to the value of K tovalidate the communication from the App. Alternatively, the Access Pointmay send a second representation of the K to the App, which the App thencompare to its value of K to authenticate communication from the accesspoint.

Alternative implementations may use certificates and/or public keyencryption.

In some implementations, rather than using Bluetooth, the communicationthrough Bluetooth may be replaced by cellular data between the TAS tothe Access Point, possibly restricted on the basis of location of thevehicle.

In some implementations, the Application Server 2000 is implemented aspart of the Sensys Networks™ SNAPS™ software package implemented on atleast one computer. No traffic application server is involved, all Apsare connected directly to the SNAPS via cellular modem. A dual radiotransceiver such as Flex Control™ may be installed in a cabinet, such ascabinet 100-1. There may be a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface inthe Cabinet 100-1. The cabinet may also include one or more radioantennas. The app may include confirmation notification of advancedetection and/or a stop-bar, which may be signaled to the driver by abeep and/or a vibration.

The application server may perform one or more of the following:

1. Manage bicycle user accounts (login, password, repassword, etc)

2. Log all transactions with users

3. Serve, possibly through the use of via https, intersectioninformation based on GPS based request.

-   -   1. Radius set table by application    -   2. Method of updating information efficiently    -   3. Per intersection information includes:    -   1. Map of intersection with GPS locations        -   1. Location of through stop bar        -   2. Location of left turn stopbar        -   3. Location of through lanes        -   4. Location of left turn lanes    -   2. Location of desired tripwires for advance detection    -   3. Identifier of intersection Bluetooth    -   4. Certificate issued by traffic authority to validate AP

4. Serve, possibly via https, AP requests

-   -   1. Intersection description information    -   2. Logging of APup/down status    -   3. Logging of Bluetooth requests by user

The Bluetooth Receivers, possibly implemented as FlexControl™ modules,may manage Bluetooth, generate calls to the traffic controller(s) 1200,log user information, and distribute public keys to the TAS.

At this time, the major cell phone manufacturers do not support adhocnetworking. However, a number of relevant wireless protocols do, whichcan leverage cell phone radio transceiver, and in doing so, provide analternative implementation to the Bluetooth Receivers described herein.

In some implementations, all the vehicles in an intersection may receivemessages detailing the detected positions, speed and possibly vehicletypes for all vehicles in the intersection.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: at least twoaccess points configured to explicitly confirm to a driver of a vehiclethat said vehicle is detected, each communicating with at least oneassociated traffic controller to direct a traffic light in response to awireless message received from a cell phone without being delayed by acellular data link for at least one minute initiated by an application,for said cell phone being moved by said vehicle near an intersectioncontrolled by said traffic light; and a second vehicle driven by adriver operating a second application on a second cell phone to send asecond wireless message to at least one of said access points, whereinsaid second message designates a second location and a second velocityof said second vehicle; wherein said wireless message designates thelocation and speed of said vehicle; wherein said cell phone receives asecond response from said access point sent to said vehicle near saidintersection explicitly confirming to a said driver of said vehicle thatsaid vehicle has been detected; said second response includes aconfirmation that said second response is authentic; and wherein saidvehicle is a bicycle; and wherein said second cell phone receives athird message informing said second application that said second vehicleis being detected, to give said second driver assurance that saidtraffic light is correct as an authentication.
 2. The apparatus of claim1, wherein each of said at least two access points each operate aseparate Bluetooth® router to communicate with said cell phone withoutrelying upon said cellular data link to receive said wireless message toavoid said wireless message delayed by a cellular data link for said atleast one minute.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said cellulardata link is a public cellular data link.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the communication between at least one of said access points andsaid cell phone employs a communication protocol implemented on saidcell phone, said communication protocol has sufficient transmissionrange to cover an intersection, and said communication is managedwithout requiring links between said access point and other equipment.5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said communication between saidaccess point and said cell phone operates autonomously at saidintersection.
 6. An apparatus, comprising: at least one access pointconfigured to increase pavement lifetime near a traffic light therebylowering maintenance expense for said pavement compared to anautomobile, each of said at least one access point, communicating withat least one associated traffic controller to direct a said trafficlight in response to a wireless message received from a cell phonewithout being delayed by a cellular data link for at least one minuteinitiated by an application, for said cell phone being moved by avehicle near an intersection controlled by said traffic light; whereinsaid wireless message designates the location and speed of said vehicle;wherein said cell phone receives a second response from said accesspoint sent to said vehicle near said intersection authenticallyconfirming to a driver of said vehicle that said vehicle has beendetected; and wherein said traffic light responds to said wirelessmessage by lengthening a green light when said vehicle is a truck thatshortens said pavement lifetime when stopped in response to said trafficlight thereby lowering maintenance expense for said pavement compared tosaid automobile; wherein said apparatus further comprises a secondvehicle is a bicycle driven by a driver operating a second applicationon a second cell phone to send a third wireless message to at least oneof said access points, wherein said third message designates a secondlocation and a second velocity of said second vehicle; wherein saidsecond cell phone receives said second message and a fourth messageinforming said second application that said second vehicle beingdetected is authentic, to give said second driver assurance that saidtraffic light is correct.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said atleast one access points operate a Bluetooth® router to communicate withsaid cell phone without relying upon a cellular data link to receivesaid wireless message to avoid said wireless message delayed by acellular data link for said at least one minute.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 7, wherein said cellular data link is a public cellular data link.9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the communication between at leastone of said access points and said cell phone employs a communicationprotocol implemented on said cell phone, said communication protocol hassufficient transmission range to cover an intersection, and saidcommunication is managed without requiring high reliability linksbetween said access point and other equipment.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein said communication between said access point and saidcell phone operates autonomously at said intersection.
 11. An apparatus,comprising: at least one access point configured to increase pavementlifetime near a traffic light compared to an automobile, each of said atleast one access point, communicating with at least one associatedtraffic controller to direct said traffic light in response to awireless message received from a cell phone without being delayed by apublic cellular data link for at least one minute initiated by anapplication, for said cell phone being moved by a vehicle near anintersection controlled by said traffic light; and a second vehicle is abicycle driven by a driver operating a second application on a secondcell phone to send a third wireless message to at least one of saidaccess points, wherein said second message designates a second locationand a second velocity of said second vehicle; wherein said wirelessmessage designates the location and speed of said vehicle; wherein saidcell phone receives a second response from said access point sent tosaid vehicle near said intersection confirming to a driver of saidvehicle that said vehicle has been detected and said second response isauthentic; wherein said traffic light responds to said wireless messageby lengthening a green light when said vehicle is a truck that shortenssaid pavement lifetime when stopped in response to said traffic lightcompared to said automobile; and wherein said at least one access pointcommunicates with said cell phone without relying upon said publiccellular data link to receive said wireless message; and wherein saidsecond cell phone receives said second message and a fourth messageinforming said second application that said second vehicle is beingdetected and said lengthening of said traffic light is authentic, togive said second driver assurance that said traffic light is correct.12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said apparatus further comprisesat least two of said access points configured to explicitly confirm to adriver of said bicycle that said bicycle is detected, each of saidaccess points communicating with said associated traffic controller todirect said traffic light in response to a second wireless messagereceived from a second cell phone without being delayed by a secondcellular data link for at least one minute initiated by a secondapplication, with said second cell phone being moved by said bicyclenear said intersection controlled said traffic light; and wherein saidsecond cell phone receives a third response from said access point sentto said bicycle near said intersection explicitly confirming to saiddriver of said bicycle that said bicycle has been detected.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein said second application is essentiallythe same as said application.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein thecommunication between at least one of said access point and said cellphone employs a communication protocol implemented on said cell phone,said communication protocol has sufficient transmission range to coveran intersection, and said communication is managed without requiringhigh reliability links between said access point and other equipment.15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said communication between saidaccess point and said cell phone operates autonomously at saidintersection.